Jessica Daniels

Bit late talking about this one but huge news coming from 343 Industries, both a re-brand to Halo Studios and confirmation that they are switching development to Unreal. 🗞️ This comes off the back of 343's struggles with development of Halo: Infinite. We've seen many other studios move away from their own engines to Unreal, notably CD Projekt Red! Are proprietary engines going out fashion? 🤔 For those who have worked on both proprietary engines and Unreal, what have you found to be the key advantages of working with Unreal? #gamedev #unreal #halo

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How to accelerate your career in game development? Think "one level higher." 🔹 If you're a junior or mid-level:  -- Consider how your task affects the team's work. 🔹 If you're a lead or senior:  -- Focus on how your team's work impacts the entire project. 🔹 If you're a producer, director, or PM:  -- Think about how your project fits into the company's strategy. 🔹 If you're a CEO or executive:  -- Ensure the company's results align with stakeholder interests. 🔹 If you're a stakeholder:  -- Align your assets with market interests. Always try to understand the bigger picture.

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Hello friends. Last month, I was looking for more work and finally secured some on Reddit from a guy who needed help with preproduction on his Tabletop RPG / Card Battler. After a meeting with him, he showed me what he had and it was quite impressive. He had a prototype of a card-battler using a tabletop RPG battle system, but he had little to no documentation or planning—he's been chiseling away at his game for a few months in his spare time after work. I suggested that before I dive into art, we flesh out the game design and the rest of the game up to around an 80% mark and let the last 20% be changes, additions, and that sort. As your game evolves, it'll come into it's own and you'll find things that need changed or added, this accounts for that. He agreed and I asked if I could work on all this since I did that with my game Alligori and lead the team from start to finish with our vertical slice, and I know tabletop RPGs very well. He agreed and we did the whole song and dance with paperwork, and he sent over a retainer and I began work the following Monday. Three weeks go by and we're working great together. I'm fleshing out his game, adding some meat to the backbone of his prototype with classes, abilities, etc. My goal was to write out as much as possible and then trim content to fit it into a 1-year development cycle. So I flesh a bulk of his game out, and then categorize it more into a game design document that clearly conveys concepts, ideas, and mechanics. Catching up, last week was the final week of my first month and payment was due. He just up and disappears like a fart in the wind, I have no idea if he's alive, incarcerated, on vacation, or what. He didn't remove me on Discord, so I don't entirely suspect malicious intent, but he gave no notice. That's the risk you run with working 1-on-1 with a client remotely, one day they can just up and disappear. I do have paperwork, so I may pursue legal action. If he doesn't log on by Friday, I'm going to publicly release all my documentation and the GDD I wrote on here.

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In today's little bit of progress, we're working with a little bit of music and setting up some Enemy Animation Blueprints- just with patrolling and idling for the time being. These are called Agonized Hunters and probably for good reason. Lore is so fun to come up with, by the way. I suppose all the stories I started to write even as a kid should've been a grand sign towards my liking of storytelling, but I definitely know about it now. I thought it would be a nice touch for the light to turn red/add in some invincibility frames when the player comes in contact with them, as well as adding in a sliiiight distinction between the breakable platforms and the ones you can walk on regularly. On a semi-related note, something I only learned fairly recently: the Nav Mesh Bounds Volume in Unreal only registers traversable ground. That's why it's only the ground that turns green when you preview it and not the air that the volume may also be in contact with. If you're working with flying enemies you won't want to rely on those or the functions related to them (like GetRandomReachablePointInRadius and co.), since they will bring those flying guys right to the ground at best. You'll want to look into the Math function RandomPointInBoundingBox instead. ✨

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After nearly 5 years of placing people in gamedev, here are 3 surprising things I've learned along the way: 1. It was always hard to be a junior Today there are 282 vs 1777 jobs on hitmarker in favor of Mids and Seniors. But even when money from investors was flowing in ungodly amounts, studios were more inclined to hire experienced people. My conspiracy theory is that junior people had it easier back then because regulars and seniors just weren't available for studios. Sometimes because salaries were inflated, sometimes they literally couldn't land the hire, because there were multiple offers on the table for candidates.  Instead of saying it's not a great time to be a junior, we should just admit it's not a great industry to be one. 2. Most people are playing less than I expected When I started I thought everyone here played games all. the. time. And I thought I was the odd one out with my heavily limited playtime. Turns out there are more people like me, who are just playing a couple of hours per week or sometimes not at all. There are of course the opposites who wish they played more (looking at you Michal Witkowski 😎) 3. You kinda need to be into games Even if your role has nothing to do specifically with production, having an interest in games or playing them in your own time it's ALWAYS a green flag. I knew it might be the case, but what was surprising is that it's true for literally every role in a studio. It's not like not playing them eliminates you from getting the accountant job. It doesn't (I hope). But the topic "What are you playing" somehow always finds its way and sneaks into the conversation. What are your surprise learnings?

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Today I have some cool updates about "Museum Keeper," our up-and-coming museum-tycoon game! In "Museum Keeper," you get to decorate and manage the isometric, pixel-art museum of your dreams and go digging around the world to find ancient artifacts in procedural-generated mines. We’ve just got the Hunger and Thirst systems up and running for our museum guests. Now, when they need a bite to eat, they head straight for the vending machines. It’s been fun watching them interact with this new feature. Implementing these systems in Godot has been a rewarding experience. Godot’s node-based architecture and intuitive scripting with GDScript made it straightforward to create and manage the guest behaviors and vending machine interactions. The engine's built-in debugging tools have also been a huge help in fine-tuning these features. Stay tuned for more updates as we keep building this game. Check out the video below to see the vending machines in action! #MuseumKeeper #GameDevelopment #GodotEngine #IndieGame #GameDevJourney #PixelArt

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The more studios get closed, the more I think about how there's nothing quite seeing your whole Industry falling apart to be honest. None of my friends with "normal" jobs walk around seeing job offers and are like "Hey if this whole Video Game thing doesn't end well, I could do that", but I've done it more times than I can count at this point and it's exhausting. Librarian? If the whole video game thing falls apart, could be nice. Bus driver? If the whole video game thing falls apart, could be nice. Professional wall painter? If the whole video game thing falls apart, could be nice. Desk attendant at the airport? Meh, if the whole video game thing falls apart, could be nice. Gouv Clerk? At this point, if the industry dies before it comes back from ashes, sure, why not! The industry is in shambles and sometimes, it do be hard to feel secure because even those who did feel secure could have the grass cut from under their feet. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I feel for each individual in the same or in a worst position, because it's not because we have a job now that we aren't looking at the future with uncertainty 🫂

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⭐️ “The future of work is about trust, autonomy, and adaptability—not proximity.” Working in development, particularly in mobile game production, I have seen a common issue emerge: Many leaders struggle to effectively manage distributed teams. What do they do instead? They fall back on proximity. They claim in-person work drives “increased productivity and collaboration,” but let’s be real—that’s just an excuse. Leaders need to understand that trusting your team and creating a flexible, hybrid, or fully remote environment can actually lead to more efficiency and effectiveness. When employees feel trusted and empowered, they are more motivated and productive, and the need for constant supervision diminishes. It’s crucial to give people the right to choose if they want to work at the office or fully remote. When people have the freedom to make that decision, they find meaning in it. But when they are forced to work a certain way, it often becomes meaningless and demotivating. Giving people autonomy in where and how they work increases their sense of ownership and productivity. Furthermore, giving the option of full remote work to only certain departments because you believe their tasks are suitable for it creates an unfair work environment. In reality, any kind of work—especially in tech—is suitable for remote work. I absolutely believe that working shoulder-to-shoulder is crucial at times, but it’s entirely achievable to build a high-performing team remotely. It’s also a cost-efficient way to manage teams, as companies can eliminate unnecessary expenses like large physical offices. The sad truth is that investing in leadership training and building a robust remote or hybrid work model costs money, so companies are taking the easy way out by forcing people back into offices. It’s a short-sighted decision that’s costing them long-term success. These are just my personal opinions and may not apply to every situation of industry. I understand that in some cases, leaders may feel the need to bring people back to the office for speed and security. However, in developing an emerging tech business, I believe leaders should manage teams with trust, flexibility, and without the stress of commuting, allowing for a more productive and dynamic environment.

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[10/09 - edited for flow] Very few things have annoyed me as much as "bad data comparisons". Just the other day, I saw an image where someone broke down [the most used retention mechanics]*, and in it, they had grouped "limited time rewards" alongside things like "treasure hunt" and "puzzles" (and others) in separate categories.** Now, I don't know if this was some attempt to rile up people like me so that they'd end up buying the report or sharing the post, but I certainly had questions - Were there no puzzle-based time-limited events found in their research/survey? Alternatively, if a game mechanic featured both, did they count them twice or err to the side that had lower representation? This may seem like an argument in semantics, but when looking at data, being unable to tell when you're comparing apples to oranges is the gateway to bad conclusions. The report neglects to differentiate between a "content distribution system" and an actual "mechanics"; while the differences may seem small, the conclusions you can derive from them are very different. Worth mentioning as well, the post neglects to acknowledge the effort needed to develop/produce each of those mechanics, or the suitability of those mechanics as tools for engagement for the games' target markets; as an example, would a daily login system that provided tickets to access a time-limited puzzle game work to help engagement/retention for an FPS like CounterStrike? Without being able to identify the contributors to the data, it makes the posts' conclusions little more than a nifty bit of industry trivia at best, and discussing it as anything but is painfully counter-educational. Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below! *The data was sourced from a paid report, so I don't have access to it. Can't seem to retrace my steps to find it again either. :( **Paraphrased.

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Hopefully this is the first time you're seeing modular control rig working inside #uefn. I saw the hidden menu for making modular control rigs during #unrealfest and tried migrating all the modules over. Not without its kinks, we now have working modular control rigs and modules on the otherside. If people are interested in this process, I'll consider making a longer form tutorial. In the meantime, what should we rig up with the modules in UEFN?

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At Uncapped Games I'm helping to develop my favorite game I've ever worked on professionally by far... and surprisingly it's an RTS. This is surprising because I (unlike nearly the whole team who are RTS powerhouses), have basically no RTS experience at all. Fire up Super Smash Bros and I may have a shot to impress, but RTS has been a huge - and fun - mental shift for me! ...and somehow, I've gotten pretty good! (At our game at least 😅). Very excitingly, we're on the schedule to say more about our game at SGF ( https://lnkd.in/e5uDTwZp ) in June, but now, kicking things off so to speak, we've put out a really cool documentary that explains some of our philosophies, hopes, and goals. If you're an RTS nerd - or just curious to learn more, check it out: https://lnkd.in/eQpxP3WZ

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Why this item is so expensive? Is it the material it's made from? I know, so many questions. But here's the thing: These are not physical objects you can touch or hold. Yes, you heard that right! It’s just a few pixels on a screen, yet it can cost a fortune. These are virtual items in video games So, why is this happening? Social status and investment drive this trend. Video games mirror real life behavior, much like acquiring a fancy brand item. The in-game economy has grown so large that gaming companies are hiring economists and data scientists to understand player behaviors. Understanding the value of digital items: 1. Social Status: Owning rare items boosts a player's status among peers. 2. Investment Potential: Players see these items as investments that can be appreciated in value. 3. Player Satisfaction: Unique items enrich the player's experience, increasing their enjoyment and satisfaction. 4. Market Dynamics: Supply and demand dictate the prices, just like in real world markets. 5. Developer Influence: Game developers can create scarcity, driving up the value of certain items. And just like in the real world, the value we place on digital items reveals more about us than the items themselves. In the end, it's not just pixels it's a reflection of our desires, ambitions, and the ever evolving digital economy. P.S. What’s your take on digital item value? Share your thoughts below!

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Truly sad news: as reported by many outlets this morning, Take-Two Interactive is closing Kerbal Space Program 2 developer Intercept Games as part of a plan announced earlier this month aimed at reducing the publisher's total workforce by 5%. Roll7, the developer of the OlliOlli games and Rollerdrome, is also being closed according to the report. To those affected by this closure, please find a comprehensive list of resources, below: 🥇First, Discipline Games Jobs Resources: Over the past weeks I have created nine Games Jobs Resources to find jobs in a wide range of disciplines: 🎨 Art, Animation, VFX and UI: This resource contains around 1,000 jobs worldwide across all links. Link: https://lnkd.in/eu2bjadW ⚙ Engineering and Programming This resource lists just over 1,800 jobs worldwide across all links. It also talks about interview tips and questions to practice. Link: https://lnkd.in/eYdxANFM 🕹 Quality Assurance: This resource lists over 450 QA jobs worldwide. This post also talks about the craft of QA and contains tips and interview practice. Link: https://lnkd.in/dwwVjZuc 📑 Game Production: This resource lists around 400 jobs worldwide. It also contains info about game production as a whole and GDC talks. Link: https://lnkd.in/gxDvFM-Z 📢 Marketing & Community: This resource lists around 400 jobs worldwide. It also gives an intro into game marketing and community management. Link: https://lnkd.in/e5MuViug 🎶 Audio and Sound Design: This resource lists around 190 jobs worldwide. Link: https://lnkd.in/eSkPSsWf 📠 Studio Support, HR, Recruitment and BizDev: This resource lists around 290 jobs worldwide. Link: https://lnkd.in/ePG57_7v ⚙ IT, Helpdesk and DevOps: This resource lists around 140 jobs worldwide. Link: https://lnkd.in/e8ZsuiZh 🎮 Game Design: This resource lists around 520 jobs worldwide: Link: https://lnkd.in/dtVmGR-t 🥈 Second, the Ultimate list of Video Games Career Resources: This should be your one-stop shop for all information. My dear friend Amir Satvat maintains these documents, he is a legend for doing this - please check them out: https://amirsatvat.com/ 🥉 Third, If you have worked in publishing, please message me. I am looking for quite a few roles right now! ⬅ 🎖 Finally, do not give up. Ever. No matter how dark things may look right now, I KNOW you will get through this, you have got this! 👊 Remember you are not alone. If you need help, advice, or even an ear to listen, we're here for you. Always! ➡ A request to my community, please can I ask you to repost this post to your colleagues and friends, so that we can get as many into jobs as possible! And please comment if you or your studio are currently hiring - let's help each other! Much love ❤️ #layoffs #gamesindustry #jobsingames #roll7 #interceptgames

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I recall, years ago, working at an indie studio and being told that we had to come in on a Saturday on a long weekend because the client would be there and we needed to look busy. Our project was on track, and overtime wasn't necessary to meet our target, but our producer was adamant that even if we had nothing to do, we had to sit there and look busy to set a good example. Not long after that, we worked over 24 hours, with team members (including me) sleeping under their desks for an hour or two to stay functional. Sadly, things like that were commonplace back then. Around that time, a developer's spouse became somewhat famous for calling out the unhealthy practices of her husband's employer, and many might argue that she was the spark that incited a need for change. All this to set the tone... I had a manager here at Treyarch that said the most gratifying thing a manager ever told me when I stopped by his office to ask if I could take an hour to step out for an optometrist appointment. I'm paraphrasing, but he replied, "We hired you for your expertise and the results you bring to the position. You don't need to tell me things like this because I trust you will deliver on your tasks and goals." That simple statement changed everything for me. It lifted an enormous weight off my shoulders and allowed me to be more results-driven than being concerned that I make every single minute of the day about productivity or looking "busy". We've come a long way since those times, and there's still work to be done, but I encourage you to lead with trust and to empower your team to be results-driven instead of a butt in a chair. I can also proudly say that Treyarch has continued to be a shining example of promoting a healthy work-life balance and making the workplace safe and encouraging. Even though I'm about to shamelessly plug joining the Treyarch team, I was not asked to write this post and do so because I truly believe it's a great place to work. Stop by our careers page to see if there's an opportunity waiting for you. https://lnkd.in/gtn4tZV6

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I almost need to pinch myself… 🤩 Because Bird's Eye View, Into Games & Games Jobs Live won the big BFI and National Lottery’s Challenge Fund grant! 🎉 Over the next two years, we’ll be developing a free, accessible platform — the Games Insights Database, to equip small to mid-sized studios, solo developers, and advocacy groups across the UK games industry with the insights they need to grow and support the sector. And this is what you can expect from the #GIDB: 🟠 A searchable funding directory with all regional funding options relevant to UK games businesses. 🟡 An interactive map with regional insights, highlighting workforce size, companies, and local partners. 🟣 A public framework for career progression across games roles all the way through to principal. 🔵 Transparent salary ranges across roles to support fair hiring and career growth. 🟡 Advocacy-ready reports to empower trade bodies and government. If you’ve seen the Entry-Level Skills Hub, any of the amazing reports by Games Jobs Live, and the extensive work Into Games does, you know this is a collab to keep your eyes on. Especially because we can’t do this without you! ➡So please give Bird's Eye View a follow & help us spread the word! — ⚠️PSA: Keep scrolling if you don’t want to read my soppy reaction… But it just feels truly wonderful that bit by bit my work and anger fuelled motivation are moving things forward. My goal has always been to help to create a gaming industry where every voice has a seat at the table, and I think empowering solo, small and mid size businesses is the way to do it. I care profoundly about what I do, some would say I care too much, and it does bring a lot of grief sometimes. But it’s moments like this, after coming off a #layoff myself, that got and kept me in games. We have a long way to go, but we have everything we need. Proactive, creative and selfless people, like YOU. 𝗦𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝘂𝘀𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆! Or just follow Bird's Eye View page and get prepared to ✨serve✨ insights, because I can’t and won’t do this alone! --- 📣 Follow #RethinkRecruitment and ring the 🔔 to stay updated! 🎯 CEO of Bird's Eye View ⏩ Entry-Level Skills Hub: https://entrylevel.games/ 🔵 Bluesky: SCMachadoUK 🌟 Opinions are very much my own™️ #GameDev *The #GIDB is a collaborative project funded by the British Film Institute (BFI) & the The National Lottery Community Fund

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🖥 🥷It is Release Day for the PC EDITION of Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut! One of my personal greatest games of all time. Played it for 80 hours within a week. It's THAT good. If you haven't played it yet or you're thinking about another playthrough, here's the link: https://lnkd.in/gkRQyEVy Big shoutout to Nixxes Software for porting to PC. This game looked beautiful on the PS4/PS5, I can't wait to see what this game looks like on a decked out PC. Hope you all enjoy it as much as I will! ⚡ *disclaimer: this is my personal unofficial promotion of the product because I love the game. srsly, if you haven't played it, please do, it's a gem of a game. #Ghostoftsushima #steam #playstation #pc #jinsakai

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